Mr. Johnson wins his 6th cup championship

[DirtRacer2014]

I am not big fan of Mr Johnson either .But i do respect what he has accomplished and he has done it with class and dignity. I hate to tell everyone this but when it is all said and done .future driver,s greatness will be judged off of Jimmy. Dale and Richard will be there first stepping stone to greatness . Jimmy will be the man they are trying to compare with .

[CIRF]

Very well said DirtRacer2014!

I just happened to be in the house and the Wife had a daytime variety show on, Kelly & Michael I believe, and one of their guests was the incomparable Jimmy Johnson. He handled himself with grace and humility and at one point giving a sincere shout out to Matt Kenseth for being a worthy, classy and formidable opponent coming down the stretch this season. The 2011 and 2012 champions each would have done well to do the same following their championship runs, but they didn't and that's the difference between a classy and humble champion that represent the sport well and a couple of guys that don't.

[TS FAN]

The problem today is the cars are so aero sensitive and dependent on a lot of engineers which translates to money. The teams with the most money or resources now a days will com out on top not like the old days when it was in the drivers hands. I'm not saying jimmy is not good but it would interesting to see how he would have done in the old days.

I agree with you. That is pretty much the way it is. Today's cars are a lot easier to drive. It is about who has the best car team/engineers behind them. Johnson is a good driver, but he is one of several. He came to the 48 with little fan fare. He was a good driver, but never accomplished all that much. Then all of sudden, he starts getting top equipment with a great team and wins some races.

[TS FAN]

I am not a Harvick fan. But he is as good as anyone out there in the series. The debate goes from why the 48 dominates series points to how drivers are viewed as people. IF we want to debate driver character, that would be another thread.

[Clayton_Wetter]

TS, you can take as much credit away from Johnson as you want and claim he HAS the best car every week, but you don't know for sure. If it were Tony Stewart with all of this success, of course he would also have done it with inferior equipment. He is just that good, right? Oops, am I exposing your bias??? Sorry. lol

[backspace]

If it weren't for the Chase,,Johnson would only have 2 championships..Thanks to Nascar,,he now can claim 6.

[TS FAN]

LOL Clayton, I do know for certain the 48 is always a top notch car and he does have the most dominate cars to drive. The man rolls off the truck at the top of the charts and has a car to dominate most races. There is no way, he or Stewart or Gordon or any of number of drivers can make that much difference in their cars performance. Johnson has the best crew chief and most dominate cars. It is rather easy to see. As far as Stewart, he is a different deal all together. I do not really compare him with guys like Johnson. Stewart owns his own teams, races all the time in different series. Your buddy Gordon was the best ever, but whoops he hasn't done all that much since Johnson became is team mate. Whoops. Gordon forgot how to drive? My biggest point in all of this is that the best teams win points championships as long as they have a good driver. As far as racing, look how many races Johnson dominated and then manage to lose. Matt was a better driver this year. IMO, so was Harvick.
But the best team was the 48, and that has been the case since 2005. No one beats them, but sometimes they beat themselves. It will be the same again next year. They should easily be able to win 4 or 5 more points titles IMO
Chad has the set up for all the chase tracks. The only way any team can beat him is to do the same.
Maybe a team can do as many as 8 and compete a little, but no one else has done all ten.

[LITE-INN]

might a champ but he's boring

[Bubstr]

The problem I have with any of these championships since the chase came about, is not the drivers but the format. Anytime NASCAR gives or takes away points and then bases the championship on 10 races at only 10 tracks, it shows who is best at those 10 tracks. It not only benefits certain teams, it changes the R&D and approach to winning a championship. Also one bad day is diminished when put with a whole season and really hurts with just ten races.

[Clayton_Wetter]

Agreed! The Chase was just a move to revive interest and create a playoff atmosphere live all other major sports. But it just don't work that way for NASCAR.

Just wonder who would have won championships now if not for the CHASE? I know Gordon would have one more.

Johnson has been the man to beat for a lot of years now, though.

[CIRF]

If it is fact that harvick is so much better driver that Jimmy then show proof. No proof then it's just someone's opinion. Opinions vary, facts are irrefutable. Conjecture sometimes=bull$hit.

Haven't seen not one shred of irrefutable proof harvick's crew was inferior or that he was in inferior equipment or, in fact, all evidence to the contrary. Offer proof or the argument is moot.

Give me a holler when the gasbag wins JUST ONE title, let alone 6 in 8 years.

Classy to some equals boring. If staying classy=boring, most folks take boring every time.

[t.nie]

I find it amusing that some people on here say "there's a bunch of people who could win every weekend, win the championship!"

Then why don't they?

[TS FAN]

Teams win point championships not drivers. Just ask Matt. That is still my point, and I think it is valid. Auto racing points championships depends on the team giving the driver top cars, making correct adjustments and not messing up on pit road. Teams cost drivers championships all the time. Drivers are at the mercy of what they are given to drive and how well the team performs during the race. The 48 team is outstanding. Yes, they will win several more championships unless another team can step up. Matt had a better season as a driver than Johnson btw.

[mudslinger47]

Well obviously there are other teams capable of winning Tnei,,,I believe one of them showed that last year...JJ and Chad have a unbelievable understanding of communication...extremely well prepared cars and they do their experimenting "BEFORE" the chase and stick to what got them there during the chase. Those of you that say that its only the format that allowed JJ to win the championship are full of crap..its the same for everyone..You notice Richard Petty recognizes greatness and was one of the first there to offer his congrats. And I might let you know that there were 17 different winners this year, so there are a lot of teams that have the "possiblity" of winning a championship, but minimising the problem days is to me the key....I don't think anyone does that better then Chad.

[TS FAN]

Mud I actually do not mind the chase format. the 48 would have won with or without it. One thing i disagree with you on is that since there were 17 different winners, then 17 teams have a chance at a championship. Sure every one is a contestant, but the vast majority of teams have no real shot at a points title. You must produce top cars on weekly basis. You must have outstanding pit work and make great adjustments during the race every week. There has proven to be very few teams that can do it. The 48 had only one real challenger in the 20, but they messed up (lousy car) at Phoenix, and that was that. Looking back, what happened to the 99 team that was so awesome for a few weeks in 2011, or the 2 same thing. I know what happen with the 14. But those drivers stood tall when they got the right cars and team work. When they didn't, they were an after thought. If Johnson ever has that happen to his 48 team and they get behind he will look just like the rest of them. Teams have to hit on all cylinders to win championships. the driver is just one of the components.